


Tea for Two

by neferlemon



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempt at Humor, Fantasy, Goblin!AU, M/M, or not really but close
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 20:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10499238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neferlemon/pseuds/neferlemon
Summary: "I'm a grim reaper, grim reaper! I escort people to the afterlife. If you can see me, then you are dead!""Ha," Sunggyu scoffed. "Next you will be telling me that unicorn exists."(Sunggyu kept walking past a mysterious door in the middle of an alley until one day, curiosity won him over)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I heard news about Sunggyu's injury. Hope he will get well soon. We love you Sunggyu <3
> 
> In response to ∞'s prompt
> 
>  **Pairing(s)/Member:** Sunggyu-centric  
>  **Prompt:** Sunggyu kept walking past a mysterious door in the middle of an alley until one day, curiousity won him over.  
>  **Preferred Rating:** Any  
>  **Bonus:** Humans aren't supposed to see the door – which is a magical barrier to a dimension where mythical beings live (something like Harry Potter entering Hogsmeade for the first time), Human!Sunggyu, Mythical Beings!Infinite (Witches, Vampires, Werewolfs, Fairies etc), Hogyu/Gyuyeol/Myunggyu would be nice c:  
>  **Please exclude:** -

 

 

 

Sunggyu kept walking past a mysterious door in the middle of an alley until one day, curiosity won him over.

That day was an ordinary day. He was going to work, to his clerical job in a small trading company, where he would spend the next ten hours (if his boss was in his better mood) typing emails and filing documents.

Probably it was because the day is too ordinary that Sunggyu decided to stop and check.

The door is made from old wood, probably mahogany, and it looked extremely heavy. The surface was full of scratches, some of them were carved words in foreign words, in foreign letters.

Sunggyu hesitated for a moment, his eyes unsure and worried. He stood there for a full minute, not moving, before finally he braved himself to raise a hand and push the door.

It opened quite easily.

Sunggyu's eyes widened as he realized what he had just done. His hand was still on the door, as if ready to pull it close any second. But, before he did, he got a glimpse of what was behind the door and he froze.

A handsome young man was looking straight at him with eyes brimming with tears.

It was as if time was stopped, the moment they saw each other. There was something so unbearably sad at the way the young man was looking at the intruder in his house. He blinked, and the tears were spilled through his eyelashes to his cheeks.

Sunggyu was the first to remember where they were and stammered an apology.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to -"

"No, no!" the young man quickly reassured the stranger on his doorstep. Unlike his tearful face, his voice seems quite cheerful. "I'm just dicing some onions."

Dicing some onions, right. Apparently behind the door was a kitchen of some sort. A square table was in the middle, two chairs were placed across each other. In one side of the wall there was a long counter where a modern coffee machine was perched. In the glass cabinet, rows of coffee mugs were neatly stored.

The mugs weren’t plain, there were words and images printed on their surface but Sunggyu was too distant to read them properly.

"Why don't you sit down first? I'm sorry I didn't really notice that you were coming. I must've missed the letter. I told Him to invest in better technology, like email or text instead of those old, creepy and totally not environmentally friendly letters but of course He won't listen to me!" The young man apparently didn't mind a stranger's presence in his kitchen. That or he thought Sunggyu was someone else.

Sunggyu opened his mouth to say something, but the young man didn't even look at him and continue talking as he chopped the onions. The chopping was noticeably getting more violent the more he talked.

"And I thought I'm free this morning, but of course there isn't such thing as free time in this job. Slave contract, this job. He put me in without asking either, He just said I've sinned so badly before that I deserve this job. And He wants human to think He's just!"

He finished his ranting with a final slam of the knife to the chopping board. A little chunk of onion flies to the floor.

"Errr..."

The man finally turned around and noticed that Sunggyu was still standing on the door way with a rather stunned expression.

"Why are you still standing there like an idiot? Sit down, I'll make you the tea. You want omelette as well? I usually don't offer food for my guests, but think of it as an apology for not picking you up. How did you find this place, by the way?"

Judging from his expression, Sunggyu was ready to bolt the hell out of this place. He must have thought that the young man is a nutcase. Or worse, a nutcase with a knife.

Before Sunggyu could turn his heel, a door from the other side of the wall was blasted open and a beautiful young man stepped into the kitchen.

"Yeollie Hyung, lend me your car, I need to go to Gangnam today."

Sunggyu stiffened in his place and the newly entered man turned his head at him. He looked confused for a moment, before looking back at the nutcase with knife.

"Jjong-ah. Turned out I can work remote today, you can use my car," another man appeared from the door. He spotted Sunggyu and just like the man called Jjong, creased his forehead in confusion.

He addressed the nutcase. "I thought you're free this morning?"

"I thought so, until this wandering soul knocked right on my door. Maybe he is one of those sudden deaths case -"

"I'm what?!"

Sunggyu looked less confused, a bit more scared and a great deal more annoyed.

"Dead?"

"Dead?" Sunggyu scoffed. "But I can't be dead!"

The nutcase sighed, treating people denying to be declared dead as if it was a customer complaint he had to take care every day.

"Of course you are dead, Sweetie. If you aren't, you won't be able to open that door. Often people just don't know that they are dead and keep living. It seems you’re one of them. Now, why did you die? Accident? Heart attack?"

Sunggyu had found that this situation had gone beyond harmless absurdity to dangerous madness minutes ago. Now, he was convinced that this was merely an irritating prank.

"Look," he said, voice sharp and annoyed. "I think you mistake me with someone else. I'm not supposed to come here. I didn't write any letter as well! And tell me why you are joking with my death because I don't find it funny. At. All."

The three other occupants in the room exchanged look, before the nutcase answered. "That would be because it's not a joke at all, and I am not trying to be funny. You must be dead if you can open that door."

Sunggyu pulled his hair in frustration. "But why can't I open the door without being dead? Who are you?"

The young man straightened his back and smirked.

"This is my tea room where I serve tea for the dead before they continue their journey to the afterlife. My name's Lee Sungyeol and I'm a grim reaper. Pleased to meet you."

Sunggyu looked like he just swallowed a sour pill.

"What," he said flatly.

Lee Sungyeol took Sunggyu's lack of reaction as a personal offence.

"I'm a grim reaper, grim reaper! I escort people to the afterlife. If you can see me, then you are dead!"

"Ha," Sunggyu scoffed. "Next you will be telling me that unicorn exists."

The three men exchange a look once again.

"They do, actually," the last man to enter the room said sheepishly. "In fact, he should be coming soon."

Before Sunggyu could even react, the door behind him was pushed with horse strength that sent him sprawled on his stomach roughly a meter forward.

"Are you okay?" Lee Sungyeol hurried to help him sitting down and glared at the newcomers. "Can't you enter normally without breaking my door or my guest?"

The newcomers were two men with nicely sculpted body. One of them had a grin that brightened the universe and another eyebrows that enough for all human race currently living.

"Sorry, sorry!" the grinny one said.

"Didn't see ya there. It wasn't our fault, you're standing right in front of the door," the eyebrows added. He looked at Sunggyu for a moment before redirecting his gaze to Sungyeol. “Fresh soul?”

Sunggyu popped a nerve hearing himself addressed as “fresh soul”.

“Look here, I don’t know why you keep insisting that I’m dead –“

“He’s the unicorn!” again, the last man interrupted Sunggyu as he pointed to the grinny. Hearing the accusation, the grinny’s grin grew wider than Sunggyu thought possible.

“I am!” he confirmed cheerfully.

“And where is your horn?” Sunggyu spat the word. He looked like he was really done with all of these. The grinny, however, missed the sarcasm spectacularly.

“Oh, I’ll show you! I’ve just polished it yesterday so it should look all nice and sparkly today!”

The man stood still, shutting his eyes in concentration, his fists clenching. Then, after a minute, a pointy white horn – all nice and shiny like he previously claimed – popped from his forehead.

Sunggyu screamed and scrambled away behind Sungyeol, who chuckled and looked behind his shoulder to address Sunggyu.

“See? You believe us now?”

Sunggyu looked at the taller man helplessly. “How did he do that? Tell me this is all just prank?”

“Nope, sorry,” Sungyeol grinned, all too pleased seeing Sunggyu flustered. “Dongwoo is really a unicorn. And next to him, Hoya, is a centaur by the way.”

Sunggyu blinked and blinked and blinked, but the horn was still there anyway.

“And that handsome guy is Myungsoo, a veela. There is Woohyun too, a gumiho, but he’s probably still asleep after his nighttime adventure. Then of course there is me, the grim reaper,” he said that rather proudly despite his ranting about slave contract earlier.

“And what does that guy do?” Sunggyu asked, pointing at the young boy who demanded a car previously.

“Sungjong? Oh, Sungjong’s just our assistant,” Sungyeol waved his hands.

“HEY!” Sungjong protested, but nobody paid him any attention as they walked toward the table and each of them conjure a chair out of thin air. Sunggyu looked like he was trying hard not to get a seizure. Sungyeol patted his back reassuringly.

Worry, everybody always take their death news hardly. Sit on the chair, I’ll make you some coffee.”

“Can it be brandy instead, please?” Sunggyu said. “I feel sick.”

Dongwoo laughed, while Sungjong frowned distastefully. “It’s barely 10.”

“Cut the guy some slack, he is dead,” Hoya said. “Why did you die, by the way?”

“He doesn’t know,” Myungsoo said enthusiastically. “He doesn’t even know that he’s dead.”

“Oooh, one of that case,” Hoya said. “Well, good luck for that, Yeol.”

Sunggyu stood up from the floor, legs still a bit wobbly. Sungyeol left his side to pour six mugs of coffee for all of them.

Sunggyu looked at his companion and swallowed. He must be dizzy from the experience. After all, not every day someone get to share a table with a grim reaper, a unicorn, a centaur and a veela.

What the hell is even a veela?

“So, what’s your name?” Dongwoo the unicorn, who sat at Sunggyu’s left, turned his head abruptly toward him (and caused him to flinch because that horn is _sharp_ thank you very much). His eyes sparkled just as shiny as his horn.

“I’m, uh, Kim Sung – Kim Sunggyu.”

“Sunggyu-ssi!” Dongwoo beamed. “So, what are you going to do in the afterlife? Meet your previous lover? Live your dream? Do you have a plan?”

Sunggyu shot a pitiful look to the grim reaper who is carrying a tray toward them.

“Hyung, let him breath,” Sungyeol scolded the unicorn (he scolded the unicorn, Sunggyu didn’t even know where he should put the emphasis on that sentence). “Here’s your coffee.”

Sunggyu took the mug gratefully and sipped. The bittersweet drink helped him relax somehow.

“I thought you’re supposed to serve me tea?” he asked the grim reaper, who took a seat on his right.

“For a wandering soul like you, who doesn’t remember your own death, the procedure is slightly different,” he shrugged. “We’ll have to find your body first.”

“But why?” Myungsoo chirped in. “You don’t really need to do that, Yeol.”

“No, but it’s better to check,” Sungyeol said. “Especially because I don’t get his death card yet. Maybe he’s just in a coma, not dead.”

“But I have to work today,” Sunggyu interrupted.

“Sunggyu,” Sungyeol said patiently. “You’re dead.”

Sunggyu blinked, realizing the truth, and drank some more coffee.

**-**

When they finished their coffee, all of the other supernatural beings left to do their own thing.

Sunggyu watched in fascination as Sungyeol used his magic to wash the cups and store them back on the cabinet neatly.

“So, do you have any idea where your body probably is?”

“Of course I don’t,” Sunggyu answered, rather annoyed. “I don’t even know I was dead, remember?”

Sungyeol sighed. “I guess we have no choice but to start with your house. Where do you live?”

They left Sungyeol’s tea room with a box of omelette. When they opened the door, there was an old homeless man sitting next to the door. He looked up when he saw Sungyeol.

“Here, old man,” Sungyeol gave him the omelette. The old man’s lips quivered as he stammered his gratitude. Sungyeol just laughed him off. Sunggyu looked at the pair distastefully.

“Sungyeol, let’s go.”

Both the men immediately looked up at him. Sungyeol frowned at his rudeness, but the homeless man’s smile turned into an o as his eyes widened in surprise.

“I… I never know there’s someone new in the house,” the old man asked Sungyeol.

“He’s not a tenant, he’s a guest of mine,” Sungyeol answered. “Well then old man, I’ll have to go first. Go back to your home and make yourself warm.”

Sunggyu was already several meters ahead when Sungyeol caught up to him. “What was that?” he asked.

“What was what?” Sunggyu raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t seem to like the old man.”

“I don’t.”

“Why? Have you ever met him before?”

“I have,” Sunggyu said. “I didn’t want to talk about it.”

Sungyeol probably sensed the bitter tone or the expression. Either way, he dropped the subject and they walked to Sunggyu’s house in silent.

The silence only last during the walk, though.

“What is this, Sunggyu?” Sungyeol screamed when they were inside Sunggyu’s room. “You must be the most boring human being ever! There is no touch of personality whatsoever in this room. No girl group posters? No figurine displays? Not even a picture of your girlfriend! Oh wait, that one is to be expected though. You probably never have a girlfri – OUCH THAT HURTS!”

Sunggyu smirked in satisfaction as his shoe landed perfectly on his target. “Shut your mouth, Grimmy! Let’s just move on, there is nothing here anyway.”

But Sungyeol refused as he started to rummage through his closet and drawers, messing the content.

“You don’t think that my body could be inside them, right?” Sunggyu asked, perplexed.

“No, but we can get something useful here,” Sungyeol continued to the refrigerator, wrinkled his nose as he did. “Damn, Sunggyu. Judging from your refrigerator, you must be dead sometime of last year – WAIT WAIT, DON’T THROW THAT TO ME!”

Sunggyu lowered his hand but not his gaze and Sungyeol shrunk a little. “Just work, and don’t talk.”

“Alri –“

“No. Talk.”

Sungyeol swallowed.

The next thirty minutes was relatively peaceful. When finally they have checked all the nook and cranny, they collapsed on the floor next to each other, catching their breath.

“Hey, Sunggyu?” Sungyeol called. He thought them lying together next to each other meant the talking ban was no longer effective.

“Mmm?”

“Why don’t you have any photograph of… I don’t know. Anything?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your parents?”

Sunggyu took a moment to answer that. “Dead a long time ago.”

“Your girlfriend?”

This question took a longer moment.

“We separated a long time ago. Must have forgotten about me now.”

“Friend?”

“Don’t have any.”

Sunggyu was closing his eyes, trying not to let any emotion show, even though they were both looking at the ceiling.

Sungyeol, however, rolled his body so he faced Sunggyu. He stayed still for a moment, opening his mouth but no word was coming from there.

“Are you happy?” he finally asked.

Sunggyu stayed silent for a minute, and two, and three. Sungyeol looked at his face uncertainly.

Then after five minutes, quietly, lowly, Sunggyu whispered.

“No….”

Sungyeol moved then. Quick, unexpected, and it surprised even himself, but he scooted closer until he pressed himself to Sunggyu and threw his arm and leg over the dead man.

Sunggyu opened his eyes for a split second. It was involuntary motion, out of surprise, and if you could look into it in that tiny moment, you’ll see a deep, intense, clear emotion that will make you weep.

But the moment passed too soon and Sunggyu remained still. Only tears streaming down his face from his closed eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Sungyeol whispered. “I’m sorry.”

Sunggyu didn’t say anything. He didn’t trust himself to open his mouth.

“I wish you can be happy in your next life.”

Sunggyu still didn’t open his mouth, but he lifted his right hand, and he put it on Sungyeol’s. They stayed like that, not moving, not saying anything, until Sunggyu’s pain dulled, faded and finally numbed…..   

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

Their  somewhat intimate moment ended when Sungyeol's stomach growled rather loudly.

"Sorry," the grim reaper blushed and hid his face into Sunggyu's arm.

Sunggyu chuckled. It was rather cute.

"It's already lunchtime anyway. There's a good jajangmyun place nearby. Want to go there?"

They left the apartment together and settled themselves on a small corner of the jajangmyun restaurant. Sungyeol ordered two portions of said noodles, much to Sunggyu's amazement.

"I thought being a supernatural being means you don't need food?" He watched in fascination as Sungyeol slurped the noodle in record speed.

"Don't you know that grim reaper is in the lowest hierarchy of supernatural being?" Sungyeol answered. "We need food and water. We can bleed and get hurt too. We can even die."

"Die? But you're dead!”

"Hmm… how do I explain this?" Sungyeol said, popping a tangsuyuk to his mouth. "Every human has multiple lives. When he dies, he moves on to the next. I – and the other supernatural being too – we’re in between these lives. We’ve been assigned our roles and our mission. We must complete this mission before we can move on to the next life. Mine was to escort 200.000 souls to the afterlife, serve them tea to forget their current live so they can start anew in the next life."

"So, every human who died gets assigned to be a supernatural being before they continue to the next life?"

"Not every human, you see. The good people can go straight to their next life. Only those who have committed great sin have to earn their next life."

“So, you’ll move on to your next life when you die?”

“No, supernatural being don’t die. We move on when we finish our mission. However, grim reaper can die. When they die, they cease from existence. No more next life for them. Unfair, don’t you think?”

"But why the different term for grim reaper?"

Sungyeol paused for a while before answering nonchalantly. "They said to be assigned as grim reaper, you have to have committed the greatest sin among them all.”

Sunggyu was startled. “What? What the hell did you do?”

“Who knows? Maybe I was Hitler in my previous life," Sungyeol smirked.

Sunggyu was not impressed. "Don't joke with such a serious matter."

Sungyeol looked up at the human and blinked, his expression a little bit astonished. "Earlier... you remind me of someone..."

Sunggyu raised his eyebrows. "Who?"

Sungyeol creased his forehead and thought. "I can't remember," he shook his head. "Maybe just a dreary old man I escorted before."

"Hey!"

"Forget it. We have more important thing to discuss," Sungyeol said, before breaking into a grin. "I found this earlier in your drawer. Tada!"

He pulled out a notebook with a black leather cover.

"It's my planner."

"Yes! Let's see if you have any strange schedule here."

Sungyeol put the planner open on top of the table and leaned forward. Sunggyu mimic the motion so they were looking at the planner together, head almost touching each other.

"The entire schedule is about work," Sungyeol murmured. "There is no suspicious Tinder meeting or such."

"What is Tinder meeting?" Sunggyu asked.

"Oh for God's sake! How could you not know Tinder? You're the human and I am the grim reaper!"

"You're a very worldly grim reaper, apparently," Sunggyu wrinkled his nose.

Sungyeol paid no attention to his comment as he noticed something else inside the planner.

"This is your name card. Kim Sunggyu from Orange Country Company. Hey, Sunggyu, this is it! Your job!"

"Yes, yes, it is my job," Sunggyu sighed. "So what if it is?"

"We can find out your time of death by calling them!" Sungyeol said excitedly. "Let's try calling them."

He really called them, even put it in loudspeaker so Sunggyu could hear the whole conversation. It rang twice before it was picked up.

"Orange Country, how can we help you?"

"I want to speak to Mr. Kim Sunggyu from..." Sungyeol looked up and Sunggyu mouthed. "Finance."

They waited as the call was redirected. After half a minute listening to a tasteless tone, a grumpy voice greeted them.

"Hello."

"Hello," Sungyeol answered. "Is this Mr. Kim Sunggyu?"

"Mr. Kim is absent today," the voice answered. "Actually, he has been since last week. Who is this? Can I help you?"

"When is the last time you see him?"

"Last week," he said. "Monday, I think."

"And where is he now?"

"How would I know that?"

Sungyeol bang his hand on the table, startling Sunggyu and half of the restaurant.

"Are you his friend or not? What kind of answer is that? Someone is missing for a week and you don't call the police, not even trying to find him on your own!"

Sunggyu looked like he was about to protest when the poor man on the other end of the line, quite stupidly, answered.

"Well, we're not exactly friend... just two people who happen to share the same workplace."

"God, you're hopeless! If you come to me after you die, I'll serve you tea infused with my sock so you can get a taste of your attitude, you spineless -"

"Sungyeol, calm down!" Sunggyu cut the call, even though he sounded amused and touched at the same time.

It was for the best, though, because when Sungyeol looked up, every pair of eyes were turned toward him.

"Are you alright, Sonny?" the restaurant owner said.

"Very well, Imo-nim. Sorry for making a fuss," Sungyeol apologized with a sheepish face.

Sunggyu couldn't help but laugh. Sungyeol's emotional outburst was warm, it exploded inside his heart and reached every corner of him that had been left empty for too long.

"Why are you laughing? Why is your coworker an asshole? Although we can still thank him for giving us some information. So, you were last seen on Monday last week, and you have a schedule on your planner... an after office party with Mr. Takada from Japan. Who is this?"

“A potential client. We serve him and his team an after office party… wait, I remember there was a row…”

“What was it? What was it?”

Sunggyu clutched his head, shut his eyes. He tried hard to remember the exact detail of what happened that night.

“Takada demanded us to provide him with better entertainment.”

“Prostitute?”

Sunggyu nodded. “I remembered I refused. It was against the law, you know. Prostitution is crime, our company can get into trouble.”

He shuddered. “I remember now. Takada, predictably, was upset. We lost him. My boss was angry, real angry. He beat me for it, but I can’t remember what happened exactly. I think I was pretty drunk. My mouth felt bitter and tangy….”

“That’s it!” Sungyeol rose, slamming his hand to the table once again. “That’s it! Do you remember the club’s name?”

“The Times, in Gangnam,” Sunggyu answered.

“That’s pretty far. We better hurry,” Sungyeol said. “Imo-nim! Imo-nim, I’ll leave the money here, if it’s alright? Take the change!” he added, putting several banknotes on the table and walked out before the owner even got a chance to reply.

The people in the restaurant exchanged a glance with each other.

“Crazy,” murmured one of them. “Talking to himself all the time. Do you know him, Imo?”

The shop owner shook her head. “The first time I see him.”

-

 

 

It was only after lunch, so when they arrived in front of the club, it was predictably still closed.

“Now what?” Sunggyu asked, glancing at the tall grim reaper who was creasing his forehead in concentration.

“Do you remember where you were going after your boss beat you?”

“No,” Sunggyu answered. “I was beaten pretty badly, I think. I couldn’t remember anything. But I couldn’t have stayed inside, could I? If I did, they must have found my body by now.”

“True,” Sungyeol nodded. “Then we assume you managed to get out of the club, then you walked, likely to the direction of the station because you were going to go home, right?”

“Maybe,” Sunggyu admitted. “But again, if I dropped dead on the street, someone would have already found me.”

“Or not, if you somehow wandered to those small alley between the buildings,” Sungyeol pointed at one of them.

Sunggyu looked at those dark alleys and frowned. “Maybe…” he said doubtfully.

“Or, we should look for the most obvious probability first,” Sungyeol said. “Maybe you were involved in an accident and were put in a hospital somewhere. We should ask the police.”

Together they went to the nearest police station to make some inquiries. The result, however, was negative.

“No traffic accident recorded here this week,” the police said. “Unless it was very minor, but if it involved someone getting into coma, then it must have been recorded.

“What about a fight or something like that?”

The police clicked and clicked again. “Nothing like that either,” he said. “Are you looking for someone?”

Sungyeol gave him Sunggyu’s identity and again the officer clicked and typed on his computer, but after five minutes he shook his head.

“No such record,” he said. “If he has gone for a week without a trace, you can file for a missing person in the central police station.”

Sungyeol nodded and thanked the officer, before taking Sunggyu’s arm to follow him.

“I guess we have no choice,” he said. “We’ll have to look at the alleyway, one by one.”

Sunggyu paled. “But there are like at least twenty alleyways between the club and the station.”

“Well, we have all the time in the world,” Sungyeol said. “You’re dead after all.”

-

 

 

 

They started the search from the alleyway nearest to the club. They managed to clear seven alleyways before the sun set and decided to continue tomorrow.

They walked back to Sunggyu’s house together.

“Although today didn’t go very well, thank you for cooperating,” Sungyeol said. “You’re one of the easier case. Some people could be violent when they are in denial about their own death, you know. Once someone threatened to smash my coffeemaker if I wouldn’t stop “lying”. I was terrified, mind you, that was when I just bought it! I only used it once!”

“Was it hard job?” Sunggyu asked his companion. They were close to Sunggyu’s house now. They could already see the roof.

“Physically, not really. I mean I just picked up people who just died and serve them tea. The hardest part was when they started to talk about their life during the tea time. Sometimes they use the chance to appeal so they could go back to life. Not that I could do that. Ah, here we are.”

They stopped in front of Sunggyu’s house. From the street, the house looked foreboding. Since it was empty, it was dark. Not even the lamp on the front yard was turned on.

It felt lonely.

Sunggyu himself didn’t look like he was relieved to see his house. Next to him, the grim reaper shared the same feeling.

“Do you…” the reaper said as his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “Do you want to spend a night at our house instead?”

Sunggyu looked up, surprised. “You don’t mind?”

“Why would I? Our house is pretty big, and the sofa is unoccupied.”

“What about the others?”

“They won’t mind either, as long as you don’t poke your nose to their business. Anyway, I could tell that they liked you this morning, so don’t worry!”

Sunggyu hesitated for a moment. He looked into Sungyeol’s eyes once again, to judge the sincerity. After a minute or two, he finally agreed.

“Alright,” he nodded. “Thank you.”

“I’ll let the other know,” the grim reaper pulled out a phone and started to text. “Let’s go!”

“I haven’t met all of them, right?”

“Only Woohyun. Don’t worry about him. He’s really friendly,” Sungyeol said as he showed his phone to Sunggyu. “They are excited to have you staying over tonight.”

Sungyeol and his friends lived on the second floor of the tea room. Although the tea room was small, the living space above was spacious.

They arrived on top of the stairs and emerged into a dining room where five men were having a meal on a round table.

“Oh, here’s the wandering soul!” the centaur, Hoya, was the first to notice them as he was sitting on the opposite side of the stairs. The other men whipped their head upon hearing this and greeted them noisily.

Except one of them.

He was the only one Sunggyu hadn’t seen before. Woohyun. He sat next to Howon, and when he saw the two of them, he froze instead of cheering like the others.

Sunggyu, realizing the small gesture, startled and froze as well, but Sungyeol didn’t as he pushed Sunggyu forward and conjured another chair for him to sit between Dongwoo and Myungsoo.

“Sunggyu-ssi, I really missed you!” Dongwoo the unicorn immediately embraced Sunggyu from his chair.

“Eeer,” Sunggyu said, still concerned with Woohyun’s attitude.

“Me too, Sunggyu-ssi, me too,” Myungsoo the veela latched into his arm as well from the other side.

“Eeer,” he looked up helplessly to Sungyeol, who was sitting opposite of him between Hoya and Sungjong, latch-free.

Sungyeol only grinned. “See? I told you they like you!”

Sunggyu was inclined to disagree as he sneaked a look at Woohyun. He was met with a cold gaze that gave him goosebump. He swallowed.

“Help yourself, Sunggyu-ssi,” Sungjong conjured a plate and a set of utensils in front of him. “I hope you don’t mind with meat and only meat. These guys have terrible diet, you see.”

“No, I don’t mind,” Sunggyu said, taking his chopstick and trying to fill his plate with difficulty as he was still tangled with Dongwoo and Myungsoo. “But I’d appreciate if you’d let me eat without restraining my arms.”

“Oh, so sorry!” Dongwoo exclaimed, releasing his arm and laugh heartily. Myungsoo followed him, although he was pouting.

“Aww, Myungsoo is upset,” Hoya teased, ruffling the veela’s hair affectionately.

“How could you resist Myungsoo?” Sungyeol asked, his eyes round in wonderment. “Not everybody can do that, he’s a veela. He’s supposed to be alluring for human soul.”

“Yes, how could you resist me?” Myungsoo turned his head to him, expression like a kicked puppy. Sunggyu held back a snort.

“What, you mean nobody could ever resist you before?” he asked.

“Yes,” Myungsoo nodded. “Veela’s mission is to seduce people, after all. So, we’re supposed to be alluring and irresistible.”

“Veela’s like a gumiho,” Dongwoo added helpfully. “Woohyun here also supposed to seduce people!”

“Come to think of it,” Sungyeol said. “Why are you so silent, Woohyun Hyung? You haven’t greeted our guest at all!”

Woohyun looked like he was pained as he raised his head to look at Sunggyu. Sunggyu’s goosebump rose again.

“H- hello,” Sunggyu stammered, hoping to reduce the tension between them.

Woohyun didn’t even reply that. “Let’s talk after dinner,” he said instead. “In my room.”

There was a second of silence then loud cheer erupted.

“Wohooo! That’s what I call a move! Myungsoo, you need to learn a lot from Woohyun!” Hoya clapped excitedly, thoroughly entertained by the exchange.

“As expected of a gumiho,” Dongwoo joined the cheer. “Respect!”

“What respect?” Sungyeol grumbled, the only one who didn’t join the cheer. “You could at least greet him first before asking him to do such a thing!”

“Are you jealous, Hyung?” Sungjong asked, smirking in a very unsettling way. Sunggyu suppressed a shudder.

“Jealous – what jealousy – yah, Lee Sungjong! Don’t be absurd!”

“Sunggyu-ssi, do you think I should’ve invited you to my bed first?” Myungsoo asked innocently.

Sunggyu blinked, slowly regretting his decision to stay over.

-

 

 

 

Dinner ended too fast, according to Sunggyu.

And there wasn’t any typical post-dinner activity that he could use to stall the time as well, like helping to wash the dishes, because Sungjong waved a hand and the table was suddenly spotless.

“Well?” Woohyun raised his eyebrows, pointing to a closed door visible to the dining room with his chin. Sunggyu swallowed, but nodded anyway.

Woohyun’s room wasn’t special in anyway, Sunggyu thought a gumiho’s lair would contain something different. Maybe a heap of cushion instead of bed, but it wasn’t the case.

“So…?” Sunggyu asked carefully, looking at the gumiho inquiringly while trying to hide his alarmed state. Woohyun was standing near the door, closing and locking it before looking back at Sunggyu.

“So?” he said back to Sunggyu, tone mocking.

Woohyun took several steps to approach Sunggyu. He didn’t stop until they almost touched and Sunggyu had to step back for space. Woohyun followed, until Sunggyu was backed into a wall, trapped.

“What do you want?” he asked the gumiho, tone harder than before.

Woohyun smirked, before lifting his hand and run it on Sunggyu’s face, from his temple to his cheek, down to his shoulder, down to his chest, until it stopped right on his heart.

“Kim Sunggyu,” Woohyun whispered.

Beads of sweat started to form in Sunggyu’s temple.

“Kim Sunggyu, pfftt,” Woohyun chuckled. “Kim Sunggyu. Puhahahaha! How clever. Or how lazy, I should say.”

Sunggyu went several shades paler.

“Kim Sunggyu hahahaha! Hahahaha! Ahaha! Haha! Ha!” Woohyun was laughing with all of his mirth. Sunggyu could not, even for his own sake, join. Woohyun continued to laugh for a full minute, until tears forming on the corner of his eyes. When he was finally done, he wiped it with his other hand.

“Well, Kim Sunggyu,” he said. “I have good news for you.”

Then Woohyun leaned forward into Sunggyu’s ear and whispered slowly.

“I can see your sword, you damned Goblin.”

-

 

 

 

Sunggyu jerked at those words, but Woohyun’s hand on his chest was strong enough to hold him in place.

“You,” Sunggyu finally uttered a word, gritting his teeth. “Who are you?”

“Goblin. A living legend. An ancient creature. A human that never tasted death. The only one that God granted immortality,” Woohyun didn’t answer his question. “I’ve sought you for centuries, Sunggyu. Who knows that I could meet you in my very own house?”

“Who. Are. You?” Sunggyu gritted his teeth.

“Who am I? Well, who else can see your sword?” Woohyun singsong. “Your bride, of course!”

“You’re my bride,” Sunggyu said slowly, his gaze nailed at the shorter man in front of him. “But they said you are a gumiho.”

“I am,” Woohyun said. “The Almighty gave me a new job as gumiho 400 years ago, when you disappeared.”

Sunggyu could not say anything to that.

“When I was assigned a job 700 years ago, I was assigned as your bride. My mission was to pull out…” he drawled his words, hands hovering over Sunggyu’s chest, where a sword was protruding, piercing right through his heart. “…this sword.”

There was a weird sensation on Sunggyu’s chest when Woohyun did that. Pain started to spread, blood started to seep. The wound was alive again, after a thousand years. It begged for someone to release the sword.

“I was looking for you all over the world, so I can finish my mission and move on to the next life,” Woohyun continued. “You were sly, of course, and clever. I never managed to catch you. But 400 years ago, suddenly I heard the news that you disappeared from this world.”

“I could hardly believe it. Disappear? How could a mythical creature disappear on his own? You could even deceive The Almighty,” Woohyun touched the sword and a fresh new pain flared through Sunggyu’s body. He bit his lips to keep himself from screaming.

“I appealed to Him to give me a new job, so He assigned me to be a gumiho. However, I still had roughly nine thousands people to seduce to complete my job. That was around 200 more years. But now you appeared, right in front of me,” Woohyun purred. “I could finish my mission right here right now.”

“Stop… it,” Sunggyu gritted his teeth, the blood tasted tangy in his mouth. Woohyun looked taken aback for a second.

“You… don’t want me to pull the sword?” the Goblin’s bride asked in disbelief. “What kind of nonsense is this? Isn’t your mission is to find the bride and have him pull the sword from you? So you can die and move on to the next life? You haven’t got bored of life, yet? You’ve lived for a thousand years!”

The pain was unbearable now and Sunggyu started to reach for his chest. His proximity to Woohyun made his body scream for him to let Woohyun pull the sword.

“Not…” he hissed. “Not now.”

“You are into something,” Woohyun realized. “The disappearing act 400 years ago, and now you are here, pretending to be a human soul. You’re approaching us, maybe one of us.”

Woohyun took a step backward and Sunggyu dropped to the floor. The front part of his shirt was drenched, some of the blood stained the floor.

“Nobody here remembered anything from their old life, except you, who never die,” Woohyun continued, touching the hilt once again. “You know something that we don’t. You’re taking advantage of that.”

“Woohyun, please…” Sunggyu said, almost rolling his eyes in pain. “Please, I need to meet someone before I die. Don’t kill me. Don’t pull the sword.”

Woohyun crouched. “You’re into something you don’t want God to intervene, you are fighting your fate. But you know what, Sunggyu? It won’t work, because I need to go on too. I need to finish my mission too. I have someone I want to meet in the next life too.”

“Woohyun, please…”

“We’re both fighting for our life. But it’s over now. Whoever it is you need to apologize to, do it in the next life,” Woohyun said. “Let’s move on together, Old Joseon’s Head Scholar, Kim Sung.”

With that, Woohyun wrapped his hands on the sword’s hilt and pulled it. Before he could pull it all the way, however, Sunggyu with his last strength pushed his bride and sent him crashed into the opposite wall, before he slumped once again, almost losing consciousness from the effort.

The loud commotion alarmed the entire household and they rushed into the room.

The sight in front of them was incomprehensible. Sunggyu was sitting on the floor, bleeding from the chest, while Woohyun was implanted into the wall.

“Woohyun!” they wailed. “Sunggyu! What happened?”

Their voices snapped Sunggyu to reality. Sunggyu had to escape, now. He couldn’t have Woohyun pulling the sword again. He rose to his feet slowly, hand pressed to his wound to prevent more blood from leaking.

“Sunggyu, don’t move!” Sungyeol exclaimed, trying to get to him, but at the same time the rest of them shouted for him to stay still as well – but for quite different reason – so he knew he had to go.

“Sunggyu,” he could hear Woohyun called him, weakly, from his place. “This plan of yours won’t go well. The Almighty will know.”

“Plan?” Myungsoo asked. “What plan?”

“Whatever plan it is should wait until you’re not bleeding,” Sungyeol hissed, and he was only three steps away from Sunggyu.

“I’m… sorry… Yeol,” Sunggyu said, tried to offer a smile to the grim reaper. “I’ll… do this… anyway.”

Then Sunggyu teleported himself.

The last thing he heard was Woohyun’s shouting ( _“He knows! He always knows! He’s nearer to us than you ever thought!”_ ), and then he was away.  

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay in updating, but here it is the new chapter, which is _not_ the last chapter :D
> 
> also, disclaimer, don't count on me on the accuracy of the historical description in this chapter

 

 

 

 

Sunggyu arrived at his house, feeling his wound started to heal again now that he was away from Woohyun. He felt the pain started to disappear, but he also felt headache coming.

Finding his bride right there right then was a little thing that could ruin the entire plan. He had to retreat. He had to think. Actually he just had to rest, he was so tired – from morning to night – was it really just a day? He thought he had gotten a wrong perspective about time. Maybe it was side effect of living for a thousand years.

He dropped his body on the bed and lay there, not quite closing his eyes, when someone knocked at his door. Groaned, Sunggyu buried his head under the pillows, wondering who it could be.

“Sunggyu!” his guest shouted.

Oh, great. It was Sungyeol.

“Sunggyu, open the damn door!”

Sunggyu buried his head deeper.

“Sunggyu, I know you’re inside!”

Sunggyu didn’t want to meet the grim reaper now. He didn’t even want to hear his voice, because he reminded him of the ruined plan and how he needs to work out a new one.

“Sunggyu, if you don’t open the door I’ll tell Woohyun this address!”

Now, that was the last thing Sunggyu need tonight. Still, he didn’t move from the bed.

“I’m serious!” Sungyeol shouted.

Yeah, Sunggyu wasn’t convinced. He kept himself still on the bed as he heard Sungyeol punched at something rather violently and then he heard a ringtone, and Woohyun’s voice on a loudspeaker.

“Hello?”

He crossed the room in one big leap to open the door. Sungyeol grinned triumphantly in front of him and he kind of wanted to slap his head, but for now his hand had a more urgent thing to do, namely snatching Sungyeol’s phone away and cut the call.

“You know I’m serious with my threat,” the grim reaper was still grinning, letting himself in despite Sunggyu’s lack of invitation. Sourly Sunggyu closed the door and faced his intruder.

“What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Sungyeol raised his (almost nonexistent) eyebrows. “I think it’s my question. What do _you_ want with us, Goblin?”

“So Woohyun told you,” Sunggyu said flatly.

“We forced him to spill,” Sungyeol said. “Because what the hell, you were bleeding on his carpet and he was planted on his own bedroom wall!”

“We had disagreement,” Sunggyu said. Sungyeol snorted.

“I demand longer explanation,” he crossed his hands over his chest petulantly.

Sunggyu ran his hand through his hair, didn’t know what to say to the demanding grim reaper.

“Can’t you let me alone tonight and tell you everything tomorrow?”

“No, not when you can teleport like you just did. If you’re a goblin then why were you pretending to be a wandering soul and entertained my wild guess? I bet even if we comb all those alleys in Gangnam, there won’t be any corpse!”

“No,” Sunggyu admitted. “I just want to spend time with you without revealing who I am.”

Sungyeol looked at him, puzzled. “Spend time with me? Why do you want that? You like me that much?”

“You have no idea,” Sunggyu chuckled, watching Sungyeol’s face went from glee to alertness. “Don’t get alarmed yet. I have my reason.”

“Let me guess,” Sungyeol cut, his tone cheeky but his eyes were sharp. “I am that handsome.”

Sunggyu snorted. “You wish.”

“I am that charming?”

“Yeol…” he said. “Just let me alone. I won’t disappear, I promise you.”

It seemed like his word managed to get into Sungyeol’s head, though for a different reason.

“What did you just call me?” Sungyeol asked him, eyes widening.

Sunggyu smiled, leaning his body to the door. “Your name.”

“Well, yeah, you can call me Yeol, I guess,” Sungyeol said, still looked confused. “I think someone used to call me that too. Was it Myungsoo? Woohyun? Hoya?”

Then the grim reaper shook his head and folded his hands on his chest. “I’m not here to talk about my name, but about your intention for lying earlier!”

“You don’t know?” Sunggyu asked. “You really don’t know?”

“Yeah, I know, that’s why I came here in the middle of the night to ask you exactly what I already know!”

“Oh? You know sarcasm now? You’ve grown up well, Yeol,” Sunggyu said, reaching out a hand to pat Sungyeol’s head, but the latter slapped it away.

“Don’t touch me unless you answer my question.”

Sunggyu retracted his hand, eyeing Sungyeol carefully before smirking.

“What?” Sungyeol barked.

“That’s convenient, because I can’t tell you my answer without touching you.”

With that, Sunggyu pulled the grim reaper toward him and claimed his mouth. As soon as the contact was establishes, Sunggyu could feel the memory coming back into him….

-

 

 

 

 

When they pulled away, Yeol’s lips were swollen and red against his pale face. Sunggyu couldn’t help but feel affectionate looking at his young king thoroughly kissed like this, although he is still rather stunned. He blinked and Yeol was licking his lips slowly, sensually.

“What do you think you are doing?” Sunggyu hissed in annoyance, though most of it is only a pretense. He enjoyed the kiss after all. “If that old bat sees us, it’s the end for me.”

Sungyeol ran his hands up Sunggyu’s arm.

“But he’s away doing something for Park Junggyun,” his touch was spidery and electrifying, going up his arm to his neck to his face, and the brat pulled his face up to kiss him once again. It still irked Sunggyu how the four years younger king was taller than him.

“Why don’t you visit me tonight?” King Yeol whispered to him after they broke the kiss. Unlike his playful kisses, somehow this request was more serious.

“Don’t joke with such a serious matter!” Sunggyu scolded the 17 year old, who was pouting like a toddler instead of the highest ruler of their kingdom.

“But I’m not kidding!”

Before Sunggyu could answer, there was a sound of someone coming back to check on them and they immediately sprang apart. Sungyeol still looked like he was just harassed by a senior gisaeng (minus the rouge) and Sunggyu immediately asked him to turn around.

Park Junggyun, the King’s eunuch, entered the study. His eyes were narrowing upon seeing them, but he refrain himself from saying anything.

“Why isn’t the Young King studying?” the eunuch finally asked.

“We are,” Sungyeol insisted, pretending to browse books on the shelves. “Head Scholar gave me a question and I’m searching a book because I forget the answer.”

“What was the question?”

Sungyeol paused for a moment, before looking at Sunggyu. “What was the question again? Funny that I actually forget it!”

Thankfully, this kind of inattentive behavior was so very much like the bratty king that it felt natural. However, the little shit had just dumped his responsibility to come up with a lie to Sunggyu. Sunggyu cleared his throat, trying to make a straight face.

“What are the five virtues of the Confucian ethics?”

“Ah, that’s the question!” Sungyeol said excitedly. Park Junggyun wasn’t convinced by Sungyeol’s tone. In fact, he looked at Sunggyu’s eyes instead.

“And that is the shelf for potions and medicines section,” he said.

Sunggyu knew they were screwed up, but he kept his face calm. There was no proof of them doing anything, except not studying like they supposed to be.

“Oh, really? So that’s why I can’t find the book,” Sungyeol shrugged, improvising his response. “Anyway, why are you here?”

“The council is requesting the King’s presence for the daily meeting,” the eunuch stated, still glaring at Sunggyu.

“Oh, I completely forget! Thank you for reminding me. If you just give me a minute, I’ll be there. You can go first.”

“I’ll wait for Your Grace in front of the study,” Park Junggyun said, before bowing and leaving them.

Sunggyu waited until the door was completely closed before approaching the young king and scolding him for their recklessness.

“Yeah, yeah, stop nagging me. He’s right out there,” Yeol complained. “See you tomorrow?”

Sunggyu nodded, then much to his chagrin (or please) the young king leaned down again and pecked him on his lips.

-

 

 

Sunggyu’s job as Sungyeol’s teacher for that day was over and he made his way out of the palace. He kept walking until he reached a big inn in the middle of the city. When he entered, the innkeeper, who was in the middle of securing a customer, greeted him with familiarity.

“Oh, welcome back, Master!” he said. “I’ve told her to wait in the usual room!”

“Thank you, Wonho,” Sunggyu nodded, ignoring the whispers from the customer that he knew was gossiping about him. _Isn’t that the palace head scholar? So he comes to places like this too!_

He kept walking, past many occupied rooms until he reached the end of the building. Sunggyu made sure that he was alone in the corridor, before exiting the inn and walked into a separate building functioning as storage behind it.

When he opened the door, his men were already waiting inside, sitting on various broken while chatting quietly.

“Hyung,” one of them, Hyunwoo, rose immediately to greet him. Hyunwoo was his right hand man in this little group. Sunggyu accepted his hug before leading him to sit down.

“Is all the preparation for tonight ready?” he asked the handsome man. Hyunwoo was his most trusted person in this room. They were childhood friend and when Sunggyu had formally joined the group, Hyunwoo tagged along. When Sunggyu was appointed as the leader two years later, he picked Hyunwoo to be his right hand man.

“It’s ready,” his friend confirmed, looking around the room to find support from the rest of them. The other men in the room nodded. “All you need to do is call the time.”

Sunggyu took his time to listen to each of their report. When finally the last person had gone, Sunggyu and Hyunwoo were the only two left. His childhood friend offered him a smile.

“So, finally it’s time.”

“Yes,” Sunggyu responded, trying to smile back, but unable to do so.

“Are you nervous?”

“Of course,” he said. “Finally the chance to take back the Kingdom from the treacherous councils has come. I can’t wait, but at the same I can’t help but feel nervous. I’ve listened to all of the key people in our coup tonight, right?”

“Yes,” Hyunwoo chuckled looking at his nervousness. “You only need to speak to Wonho and you’re done. By the way, where is he? He’s late.”

“Sorry,” suddenly Wonho, the innkeeper, was already standing on the door. “There was a difficult customer who tried to bargain too low. I’ve entertained him as much as he could, but in the end he didn’t even take the offer! He was only here to gossip about what a corrupt scholar Sunggyu is for visiting such an inn that provides gisaeng for entertainment!”

“You know I didn’t come here for the gisaeng,” Sunggyu said, irritated.

“Yeah, but I couldn’t tell him what you’re really here for, could I?” Wonho rolled his eyes. “I mean, would you rather say you came here every other day to organize a group of rebellion that is planning a coup d’état tonight.”

Sunggyu tried not to roll his eyes at his third-in-command. “Do you have anything suspicious to report, Wonho-yah?”

“No,” Wonho said, closing the door behind him. “There's nothing suspicious in the movement of the guard. Like I said, this is the most peaceful time of our city for a while. Nobody would expect the coup.”

“That’s good,” Sunggyu said, standing up and walking to the door. “Then I think I should head back home and make some more plans.”

“Hyung,” Wonho stopped him. “We still have one more thing to talk.”

Sunggyu tensed. “I told you, we’re not going to kill the King.”

“What do you mean we won’t kill the King? What kind of coup is that?” Wonho countered.

“We agreed that the King is innocent. He’s just a doll controlled by his council and his treacherous eunuch Park Junggyun. That’s why we’ll only dethrone him and lock him up, but not kill him.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Wonho snarled. “The King is not innocent. If he is a King, he should be smart enough to realize that he is being used by his own council.”

“He is young!” Sunggyu shouted.

“He’s still a king,” Hyunwoo quietly reminded him. “Innocent or not innocent, he’s the legitimate ruler of the Kingdom. As long as he is alive, locked or free, there will always be people who are loyal to the previous king, who will not acknowledge you as their new ruler, and will stir up trouble in the future.”

“Then we can make him a ruler,” Sunggyu said. “It was the council and that eunuch that we need to abolish.”

“You can’t change the plan out of the blue like this, Hyung,” Wonho said. “That brat could never be a King. He was already too corrupted by the attention and the flattery his council and his eunuch whispered to him since he was a baby. Also, the rebellion wants you to be the King. They won’t follow the brat like they follow you. Leaving the kid alive would just create a trouble in the future.”

“But what about the public?” Sunggyu debated. “Their loyalty is with the Old King’s bloodline!”

“The public are easy,” Wonho joined the conversation. “As long as you keep the food supply flowing, tax low and crimes manageable, they’ll be at your side in no time.”

“Hyung, we’ve discussed this a lot of time,” Hyunwoo joined the conversation. “And you know every time, our arguments win over yours. There’s no reason to keep King Yeol alive, or is it? Do you know something that we don’t about the King?”

“Yes,” Sunggyu said. “The kid was no longer a brat. He has learned a lot under my guide these four years. Of course, it was still a long way for him to rule, but he is learning, and if we replace the councils with our people, it won’t matter.”

“You’ve been teaching him for four years, yes,” Wonho said. “But don’t forget that the eunuch has raised him since the Old King and his Queen died. You’re fighting Park Junggyun’s 14 years old influence on the boy with a four year education. If you ask me, you’ll lose Hyung. He won’t ever change, the Young King. If you let him live, he will resent you and he won’t trust you anymore either.”

“You don’t know him,” Sunggyu argued. “You don’t know how much he has changed.”

“I don’t want us to take risk,” Wonho talked back. “I want to save our kingdom, I want to save our people. That’s what I promised your father.”

Sunggyu’s father himself was a loyal follower of the Old King. He was serving as one of the King’s Council when Crown Prince Yeol was born. During his term, a big accident happened in the palace. A fire from unknown source engulfed the King’s Quarter, killing the King and the Queen.

Sunggyu’s father managed to save the Crown Prince, only two year old at that time. However the corrupt members of the council saw a chance to seize the government control and they worked together to expel the other council members who were not likely to agree with them, including Sunggyu’s father, despite his deed of saving the Prince.

After the death of the King, the ruling position was taken over by the council. Eunuch Park Junggyun presented himself to the council, offering himself for a position as the Young King’s main attendant.

When young King Yeol reached the age of thirteen, his father led the campaign to let the Young King back to rule. The idea unsettled the council, who was gotten too used to their new position. However, rejecting the idea was impossible, since the old King was popular and the amounts of sympathy they get from the public were tremendous.

So they reinstated the Young King to ruling. Sunggyu, 17 at that time, freshly graduated from the best academy in the Kingdom, was put to work in the Palace study as a librarian thanks to his father.

“Protect the Young King, Sunggyu. That’s your duty for the country.”

“But what can I do from the study?” Sunggyu had asked his father back then. “Shouldn’t I enter the council instead of studying behind the desk?”

“The council would never put serious effort in the education of the Young King,” his father had said. “They want him to be continually naïve and unsuspecting, so they could control him behind his back. They want to make him into a stupid, reckless, and vain ruler so one day they could take the kingdom back from him. I want you to change that. I want you to give the Young King the wisdom of a teacher, the respect of a citizen, and a trust of a friend.”

Sunggyu fulfilled his promise, except he also gave the young King the love of a lover.

The Young King Yeol was a total brat when Sunggyu first met him. He was a prepubescent boy, raised without love from his parents, but with a lot of special treatment and privileges from his position, encouraged by his eunuch and the rest of the councils. Sunggyu, who previously also thought that the Young King is the lawful ruler of the Kingdom, now would rather toss him into a river for his behavior, much to his father’s chagrin.

Educating the Young King was difficult. However, slowly but sure, Sunggyu managed to do it. The kid never had a teacher before, never met the people he ruled, and definitely never had a friend. Sunggyu gave him all of that. With Sunggyu’s constant teaching, he was growing up into a decent man at the least.

When it felt like everything was going fine, his father was killed. Public ruled it out as robbery case, but his father’s small group of rebellion, whom Sunggyu had been a member for a while, knew better

It was when his love for the palace dwindled, even his newfound adoration for the Young King disappeared. For the first time in the history, he stopped being strict to his King for weeks and let him do whatever he pleased. He wasn’t interested in making him the best king again.

But unexpectedly, King Yeol reached out to him.

Sunggyu were leaning against the bookshelf in the study, not bothering to even pull out a book or give a random topic for the King to study, when King Yeol, 17 at that time, said.

“I’m sorry about your loss,” he said, struggling when he said it, like he didn’t know how to express grief properly yet (they’d have to work on that later). “I know your father, he was a good man. When I was little, he visited the old King often. The old King liked him, and I like him too. It was a shame the council never let him in the palace again after the old King and Queen died.”

Sunggyu was, somehow, touched. It meant a lot to him that his father, who died for this young man albeit indirectly, was actually remembered and respected by the King.

Both of them were different after the accident. Sunggyu was cold angry in the inside, he became braver at violating rules. He even changed the entirety of the King’s education curriculum against what the council has recommended.

King Yeol accepted everything calmly. As he became more mature, he started to develop a sensibility. He was learning about himself and his responsibility. He became more approachable, his moral was starting to develop.

He became aware of himself. He was more confident – not in his brat way when he expected people to worship him without a cause – but in a way that tell other people that he know who he was and why he was him.

In this newfound confidence, he kissed Sunggyu one day and confessed.

And he had grown up a long way from that snotty brat Sunggyu met for the first time, but a gorgeous young man, tall and sculpted, intelligent and humorous, and Sunggyu kissed back, because his heart said yes though his brain shouted no.

That was how they live until now – relationship veiled under the guise of study sessions. Meanwhile, every day Sunggyu came home to his empty house and hosted a rebellion meeting once a week. He didn’t tell anybody about his relationship, and it was exhausting to keep two parties he was closest to ignorant about each other.

The plan for the coup had been born long time ago, around the time his father was murdered. Sunggyu, inherited the leader title both because he was good at his job and because he was his father’s son, had planned it so well. He only didn’t expect that King Yeol would grow up this fine and that he fell in love with him.

And tonight was the execution of the two year plan. Sunggyu could not back down from his father’s legacy.

“We can tell the public that he is dead, but we won’t kill him,” he said in the end, tone final. “I’ll deal we’ll him, but we won’t kill him.”

Wonho openly voiced his displeasure but Sunggyu was unmoved. Hyunwoo more logically pointed out several flaws in his plan, but they were all weak. In the end Sunggyu got the final say, but it still didn’t make him calm. For some reason he felt agitated and unsure.

Unbeknown to him, he had the right to feel like that as a mysterious figure slipped from behind the old house, crouching between bushes, running away after listening their meeting from the start to finish.

-

 

 

When Sunggyu prepared everything for the coup that night, he felt the sense of foreboding. He voiced his concern to Hyunwoo, who patted his shoulder, then told him not to tell it to anybody else because it would decrease their morale down before the war.

The Kingdom had 2000 soldiers on the military academy. The palace had roughly 500 guards in total protecting them. Every day and night, they take turns in four shifts, meaning there were only 125 guards on duty that night.

The palace was also infected with a lot of rats. Sunggyu was just one of them, and he has brought 300 more rats from outside the palace.

So, all odds were with them. All they need was just a little divine blessing. Sunggyu looked at the sky to pray, and a butterfly passed him. For some reason the butterfly made him feel like someone in the sky had listened to him.

“I felt better,” he whispered to Hyunwoo next to him. “At least, I don’t think I’ll die today.”

“Good,” his right hand man said. “Tell that to your people.”

The march from the inn to the palace took less than an hour, and they were loud, full of spirit, waking everybody up from their sleep. They invited every man who came out of their house to look to join, and more often than not they agree. Their rebellion had always close with the people after all.

Their numbers now were easily increased to almost 500, Sunggyu thought. They’d conquer the gate in less than an hour. Once they barged through the gate, Sunggyu would let Hyunwoo take control the attack on the councils while he’d make his way to the King’s quarter, and he’d smuggled Yeol as far away from the palace as possible.

They’ve reached the palace now and Sunggyu could see the guards standing on pedestal behind the palace wall, bow and arrow on hand, ready to attack. This didn’t alarm Sunggyu, those guards must have heard the commotion, but they won’t be prepared to defend the castle from Sunggyu’s number. With almost 500 people on his back, they were four times bigger than the palace guards.

Sunggyu shouted his first command and arrows flied, both from the guards above them and from Sunggyu’s rebels from below. People started to fall from both sides, but Sunggyu has no time to grief or to care. He shouted his second command and his people moved to the gate, attacking it with everything they had.

They broke it in 15 minutes.

Third command from Sunggyu was for them to charge ahead inside. Sunggyu himself was in the front line, along with Hyunwoo and Wonho.

It was only when they were in the outer courtyard of the palace Sunggyu realized that they were surrounded, by what look like at least 2000 kingdom soldiers.

All hell broke loose. Sunggyu’s people were conveniently trapped between the wall and the soldiers. His shout to the rebels behind to stop was a tad bit too late, as most of them were already entering the courtyard, and what left outside the gate were still mercilessly attacked by the archers, whose number weren’t even decreasing in the least.

The palace had anticipated their attack, Sunggyu realized. Either someone had ratted them out or they managed to get an intelligent about their planned coup.

Either way, they were dead.

Sunggyu tried his best to command them for defense, but they were 500, and the soldiers were 2000. For each of them fighting, there were four soldiers fighting back. He suppressed the rising bile as he heard his people slaughtered with swords and arrows, as they fell one by one until no more than 20 left.

The battle was over for less than one hour like Sunggyu predicted, but the victory was on the council’s side.

They let the left 20 rebels – Hyunwoo and Wonho were still alive, he noted gratefully, though for how long he couldn’t say – into the inner courtyard. Sunggyu froze for a moment when he noticed the people standing in front of the main building: the corrupt council, the three most treacherous were up in front and of course, the Young King. The King stood up on a pedestal, Park Junggyun on his right side.

“Traitor Kim Sunggyu,” Park Junggyun’s voice greeted him. Even with the King himself right next to him, he would not give the chance to speak to him. “What a surprise to receive you and your friend at this late hour, though I gather you must be more surprised than us.”

He even paused like he thought he was funny. Sunggyu didn’t have an ounce of care for him, his eyes were trying to find Yeol’s, but shadowed under the King’s high crown, he couldn’t.

“You are charged with the sin and the crime of disloyalty to your Kingdom and your King and attempted assassination to the Kingdom’s high council. The punishment for you and your people are death. Do you accept the ruling?” Park Junggyun continues.

“I will,” Sunggyu said, “if the King is the one who say it.”

Park Junggyun’s face hardened.

“The council decided this ruling under the King’s approval,” he said.

“If it is the case, then it shouldn’t made the difference if the King say it,” Sunggyu countered, hoping to give a little push to Yeol to realize how treacherous his council is. “It is the King’s fourth year of ruling, but we’ve never heard his voice under the Ruling Hall, giving out a verdict. You always take the chance to speak for him.”

“If the King wants us to speak in his stead, then we have no right to force him to speak when he is unwilling,” Park Junggyun said.

“But does the King really want that?” Sunggyu continues. “Or do you never even ask him what he wants?”

“We know what the best for him,” Park Junggyun continues. “And the King right now was not in his very best condition to speak. His Grace’s heart is shaken from the betrayal done by none other than his own teacher.”

The fact that he did betray his King, his lover, his Yeol, uttered from Park Junggyun’s filthy mouth, hurt Sunggyu more than the cuts and bruises on his skin.

“Your Grace,” Sunggyu ignored the eunuch and looked at his King, desperately coaxing him to speak.

Sunggyu tried, he called, and called, and shouted to the whole people in the courtyard about the treachery the three councils had done, but he could only watched helplessly when all Park Junggyun had to do was to lean closer to Sungyeol and whispered his poisonous words to the King.

“Yeol!” Sunggyu finally used his last resort, disrespectfully calling his King with his name.

It was always a battle between Park Junggyun’s words and Sunggyu’s love, all of these years.

Sungyeol looked up, and for a moment Sunggyu was struck by the amount of hurt and pain he saw in those eyes. The King was crying, but when he spoke, his voice was as clear as crystal.

“Kill him.”

Then he left, disappearing inside the Ruling Hall, as several guards stepped forward to finish them.

“Can’t believe you said you think you won’t die today,” was Hyunwoo’s last words. “But good luck with that,” his right hand man chuckled before grunting as a slashed him right across his chest, his blood hitting Sunggyu’s right arms, warm and sticky.

When his heart was pierced with a metal sword, Sunggyu could still hear some words uttered by Park Junggyun.

“Traitor’s body doesn’t deserve to be buried. Just abandon them on the meadow. Nobody is allowed to claim it, except beasts and crows.”

Lying helplessly on his own blood, Sunggyu could only look at the sky.

 _Sorry,_ he thought, thinking of Hyunwoo, Wonho, his people and the people who spontaneously join them this night.

But most of all, he wanted to say sorry to one person.

 _Sorry,_ he thought, thinking of the Young King’s tearful eyes before he drops them the death sentence.

-

 

 

 

True to Junggyun’s words, they brought him to the meadow and abandon his body there. The beasts would claim him soon, he thought, looking at the blurry sky.

A butterfly passed his line of sight. How weird. Sunggyu could swear it was the same butterfly he saw earlier. As if teasing him, the butterfly kept passing. Its wings were a mix of color so beautiful it was Sunggyu’s first time seeing anything like that.

“Didn’t you tell me I won’t die today?” he asked the butterfly with his last strength.

He was only kidding, he was just bitter, when the butterfly landed on his nose.

 

_You were cocky, my boy. You thought you were better than your enemy, and your cockiness had spilled a lot of innocent blood and robbed a young man from the only source of joy he has in his life. You thought you have wisdom, while in fact you lack of it._

_For all of your sin, you also have suffered from other’s sin as well. Hence I’ll tell you, my boy, that you will not die tonight. You will not die for a long time. You’ll live, forever, suffering once again in the mortal realm, until you find the one who will be able to pull this sword out of your heart. That will be your bride, but that person is not the King you’ve just betrayed. In fact, your King will only get his chance for reincarnation once you die._

_Until then, you’ll life until you want to die, but you’ll never be able to. My boy, this is your prize and your punishment. Accept it._

Then the butterfly flew away.

Sunggyu thought this was all just a dying hallucination, but as he wondered how close he was to dying, the pain in his chest disappeared, his breath became easier and after a while he could even sit up.

He tried to touch the sword on his chest, but it only glowed in pretty blue light, and his hand went through it like it was only a shadow.

Somehow, Sunggyu didn’t die that night, and wouldn’t, for a long time.

He got up with happiness, thinking what a blessing he got from Him, and he ran back to the palace. He didn’t care if he was bloody, if he was alone, the God said he couldn’t die for a long time.

The first guard who saw him back in the palace screamed, the second tried to attack him. He twisted that guard’s neck like it was a twig.

“I… impossible,” the other guards took step back. “You are dead! I saw you with my own eyes.”

Sunggyu smiled, “Apparently not.”

They attacked him, but Sunggyu sent them away just with a wave of hand, because turned out he can _control wind_ now. His immortality came with inhuman power as well. He laughed as he made his way into the King’s Quarter.

Oh, but before that, he had to make a small little stop at the Ruling Hall, where Park Junggyun and his cronies were toasting for their victory.

They screamed and tried to run away, but Sunggyu was fast now. He swept the hall clean in five minutes, there was only Park Junggyun himself left. The eunuch was now scrambling away from him, trying to blend himself with the wall. Sunggyu crouched down to his eye level, hand moving up to his neck.

“You’re… not human…” Park Junggyun’s eyes widened. “You’re definitely human before, but now… you’re a monster.”

“For once, I have to agree with you,” Sunggyu said, tightening his clutch.

“Im… possible… you’re a… Goblin,” Park Junggyun said.

“Make sure not to reincarnate too soon,” Sunggyu said, “because one death is not enough for you.”

With those words, he was done in the hall. He felt elated. This is your prize and your punishment, the God had said.

Nothing of this felt like a punishment for Sunggyu.

He made his way to the King’s Quarter. Unlike the Ruling Hall, where the people were celebrating, the Kings’ Quarter was silent except several servants who were running about, looking busy. Their faces were grim and disturbed.

Sunggyu could hear someone sobbing from the King’s room. He didn’t think it sounds like his Yeol, but if it was him, Sunggyu would wipe his tears for him. There was nothing but happiness for the Young King from now on, Sunggyu promised himself that.

He slid the door to the room open.

The one who sobbed was not the King, but an old servant Sunggyu recognized as the King’s old nursemaid.

The King himself was sleeping on his bed, except he was not sleeping because his lips were blackening and he didn’t appear to be breathing.

Sunggyu approached the bed, ignoring the fearful scream from the other servants in the room, and touched his King, only to find his body cold.

“What happened?” he demanded to the old nursemaid, the only one who didn’t leave the room, because her grieve was bigger than her fear.

“His Grace drank a poison,” she sobbed. “Right after he heard that you’re dead, he ran to the supply room and took the poison for hunting.”

Sunggyu looked back at Yeol (that wasn’t him, that was only his corpse) in disbelief. “You!” he accused, as if the King could answer him.

“I thought I taught you better than this!” he shook the lifeless body, eyes blurred from tears. “How could you kill yourself, how could you?”

The only answer he got was silence and the coldness of the body. Sunggyu ran his hand through the soft skin. He was still so young, he was only a boy, and he was dead. He was dead, and Sunggyu would live forever.

Now he knows what his punishment was.

Sobbing, he hugged the body, showering it with kisses and caresses. He hold the corpse for a whole night, until morning come and he realizes that not even him as a Goblin can bring back the dead.

He pressed his lips on the king’s cold and stiff one, for the last time, before he went on his way.

“Where are you going?” the old lady said before he leaves.

“To disappear,” Sunggyu said.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at me creatively named them Hyunwoo and Wonho

**Author's Note:**

> Chaptered fic. LOL.


End file.
